then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, "Whoever [is] on the LORD's side -- [come] to me." And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.

Then Moses said, "Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, for every man has opposed his son and his brother."

So Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal of Peor."

Now when Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw [it,] he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand;

And those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.

"Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal.

And of Levi he said: "[Let] Your Thummim and Your Urim [be] with Your holy one, Whom You tested at Massah, And with whom You contended at the waters of Meribah,

Who says of his father and mother, 'I have not seen them'; Nor did he acknowledge his brothers, Or know his own children; For they have observed Your word And kept Your covenant.

"If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.

Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know [Him thus] no longer.